Smarter?
by Ayanami Rei 1
Summary: What would happen if Ranma challenged himself to study and learn? Discontinued Feb, 2006
1. Chapter 1 Dropping the Act

Note: I'm not going to write Ranma's incorrect grammar into this story. Maybe a diff. story, but my own grammar skills have been degrading from constant reading of bad grammar. Sorry.  
  
Btw: If you hate OOC, I suggest you don't read this story.  
Smarter?: Chapter 1  
  
Dropping the Act  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma sighed as he walked on a fence travelling toward Furinkan High. His life had fallen into a repeating series of events. He could practically write out a schedule of every time Ryouga would show up in the next month. *Ugh... I need something new. Let's see... hmm? Oh, as usual, it's Kuno... And there he goes.* Ranma continued his walk into Furinkan High, as he contemplated what he could do. He had done everything he could think of but study. A sigh escaped his lips as he slumped onto his desk in preparation for a short nap. He /could/ try to bring his grades up, but what was the fun in that? Ranma thought back to something Tofu had said in idle conversation a few days ago. 'Ranma, if you really want to learn something new, why not try the library. I learned some of /my/ medical skills there, after all.' As he thought of visiting the library as Tofu had suggested, Ranma kept running into the same obstacle. Nabiki. Her lackeys were everywhere. She probably had a lackey in the ice cream store he went to all the time. *That's it! I've never thought of it before, so Nabiki wouldn't expect it! I'll go to a different town's library! Only problem is I'd have to go as a girl or Nabiki's /customers/ would see me entering and exiting the train. Hair die would help here, and, man, I'd never thought Nabiki's recordings of my battles would get /that/ much publicity. At least she's kept her information about my girl-form quiet.* Ranma continued to ponder the choices available to him, before deciding that getting away from the mess that was his life, would probably be a good thing.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Akane stared at Ranma as he ran home as soon as the bell rang. She followed slowly, wondering what he was planning on doing. *He's probably going to go and visit one of his /other/ fiancees! That JERK!* With that thought, Akane raced home to beat Ranma into a pulp with her trusty mallet.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma quietly sneaked out his window (Authors note: Yes, sneaked is grammatically correct. Snuck isn't even a word. Or it wasn't until recently.) and slipped into the Umi-Sen-Ken. He sprinted to a hair store a district away (for insured privacy), and bought his black hair dye, which he put on in a nearby public bathroom. As he had hoped, his girl-forms hair stayed black from the dye, while his male-form's hair appeared unaffected. Grimacing slightly, Ranma splashed himself with cold water while under the Umi-Sen-Ken's cloak, and stepped outside to do what she had be dreading the whole trip. *Ranma Saotome doesn't back down from a challenge.* She assured herself, as she walked up to a female clothing store.  
  
Half-an-hour later found Ranma-chan dressed in female clothes with the undergarments that had been in the package she'd bought. Why? It was simple really. A saleswoman with scissors had slipped on something-she still didn't know what-and had cut all her clothes to pieces as the scissors shot through the door and slashed straight through her boxers. She hadn't been expecting the Jusenkyou curse to take full advantage of the fact that she had been trying on female clothes and force her to stay female. *Oh well. I might as well test out my idea now. I hope no-one in this district knows my female form...* Ranma-chan went into the library and set to studying for school for the first time in her life. As she studied, she noticed glasses on many of the students around her, and wondered if there was some club in the library. Deciding to go with the flow, Ranma-chan bought a pair of glasses and put them on. She managed to actually study for four hours, before she realized that her father and the Tendos were going to be running all over town to try and find her.  
  
Ranma-chan giggled for a moment before catching herself and blinking rapidly. /That/ was not a wanted side-effect of being calm in his girl-form. Ranma-chan sighed as she slipped off the train, unable to roof-hop in a skirt without flashing every passerby beneath her. She walked passed Furinkan and literally crashed into Nabiki. *Oh shit! My project is over already! And I barely started it!*  
  
Ranma-chan felt like sobbing until Nabiki said, "Watch where you're going when you walk." She stared at Nabiki's back as Nabiki flipped open a cell-phone and said, "Have you seen him yet?" Not wanting to push her luck, Ranma-chan ran back to the Tendo Dojo and stuffed her clothing into a well-locked trunk and changing back into normal clothes. He walked to the bathroom and quickly rinsed the die from his hair, before walking down the stairs and into the living room, where everyone but Nabiki was waiting.  
  
"You were with one of your /other/ fiancees again, WEREN'T YOU?!?"  
"Son! How could you betray Akane like that!"  
"Waaaaah! My future-son-in-law was off seducing another girl! Waaaaaaaah!!"  
"See!?!? I /told/ you that you were a pervert. JERK!"  
-WHAM!-  
The house reverberated from the blow to Ranma's head.  
"Oh my. Weren't you a little harsh on Ranma-kun, Akane?"  
"Humph, he deserved it. The two-timing jerk."  
"Oh my."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Nabiki blinked as she realized just who the black-haired girl resembled. She flipped open her cell-phone and relayed a message to all her lackeys. "Subject found. Give yourselves a break." She and Ranma were going to have a /long/ talk about what she had seen.  
To be continued.  
  
Author's Notes:  
I wrote this in 30 minutes or so, so don't be surprised if characters are /way/ out of character. I'm sorry. Also, please let me know if this story is even worth continuing. It's the first one I'm posting on FF.net. Oh well. C&C or R&R, take your pick! ^_^  
  
-AyanamiRei928  
(No, I don't write many Evangelion fics. I haven't written single one as of today.) 


	2. Chapter 2 Intellect

Standard Disclaimer (Not that I'm into all this, but.)  
  
Smarter? Chapter 2:  
  
Intellect  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Nabiki glared at the boy who'd managed to get straight through her wall of 'agents'. "Alright Saotome, what are you up to now?" It wasn't really a question of what he was up to, but more of a question of why. After all, why worry about the what when you can track him?  
  
Ranma sighed theatrically, and said, "Nabiki, you're going to be my sister-in-law if the engagement holds, and you don't trust /me/? Who do you trust?" Nabiki blinked, not expecting any type of a smart verbal retort. She had been expecting him to actually go straight to asking how many photos her silence would cost. Nabiki blink-blinked again. *Interesting, I didn't know Nabiki would allow herself to be caught off-guard like that. Hmmm.* Ranma smirked as Nabiki shook herself out of her trance.  
  
"What /have/ you been up to, Saotome? Have you /actually/ raised your IQ levels?" It was a sarcastic comment that deserved no reply, but a reply it got. The reply, of course, had nothing to do with the question.  
  
"How much will you pay for me to keep silent about this little flaw in your impenetrable systems?"  
  
"Flaw? Don't jest with me Saotome. There aren't any flaws." Nabiki had her normal icy demeanor on the outside, but on the inside, she had started to fret. *Can /Saotome/ of all people actually find a flaw in my money-making system? It's impossible!*  
  
"Oh! But there /is/ a flaw! All you have to do is act completely out of character! Like I just did!"  
  
"Yes. I'll admit that you caught me off-guard for a moment, but no one would believe you anyway Saotome. I have no reason to fear."  
  
Ranma whistled innocently as he asked, "Have you noticed anything missing from your room lately?"  
  
Nabiki started. She /had/ noticed that she was missing her hand-held video-camera, but he wouldn't know about that unless. Nabiki narrowed her eyes. "You took it?"  
  
"Yup! It's right up there in the corner! That's why everyone'll believe me!"  
  
*Damn! He's really gotten smarter! How?! He caught me in my own trap!* Nabiki sighed at this revelation, knowing that she couldn't beat Ranma in speed if she tried to grab the camera.  
  
*Only four hours at the library and I can mess with Nabiki? This may have some potential after all!* Ranma smiled and said, "How's this. I don't show anyone this tape, and you don't follow me around on my trips. Also, you don't give anyone information about my trips. Is that agreeable?" Ranma knew Nabiki treasured her reputation. Now everything depended on exactly how much she depended on it.  
  
Nabiki sighed. *He's getting the hang of this. I really don't want to do this, but he leaves me not choice.* Nabiki's bottom lip quivered as she started to cry openly. "Ranma! Don't take away my profits and dreams! Waaaah!"  
  
Ranma blinked as he found himself a she under the deluge of teardrops Nabiki was creating. Ranma-chan quietly walked up to Nabiki, before pulling open one of her eyelids and studying her emotions. A little aura studying and she was sure. "Nabiki, I'm sorry to say this, but Akane is a /much/ better actor than you, and even /Kuno/ has had better acts. Work on it some. Do you take the offer or not?"  
  
*What!?!? KUNO!?!? Grrrrrrr....* Nabiki sighed again, as she stopped forcing the tears out. "Fine. I accept Soatome. But don't expect me to let this happen again."  
  
"I don't expect this to happen again. That's why it's on tape!" Ranma smiled as he walked back to the guest room and fell asleep almost immediately.  
  
Nabiki was left with no way to get the tape from Ranma-chan, as Ranma- chan had picked up enough of the hidden weapons technique to store a tape in subspace. Though one thing did seem to nag at her. *Ranma's been going to sleep as a girl more often. I wonder why. Akane's idea of waking him with water never bothered him before, so it shouldn't be bothering him now. Could he be getting more used to his cursed form?* Nabiki sighed and turned in for the night, filing that thought away for later.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Wake up and fight.  
  
Eat breakfast.  
  
Go to school.  
  
Beat Kuno.  
  
Take classes.  
  
Get sent to hall with water.  
  
Eat lunch.  
  
Finish classes.  
  
Run home and get dressed.  
  
Ranma-chan rushed out from the Tendo Dojo in the Umi-Sen-Ken, and made a beeline for the train station. She didn't want to miss the train and have to wait for another half-hour. She had decided that wearing female undergarments would be a necessary piece of her act at the neighboring district. As she boarded the train she started thinking. *I wonder if I'll find anything about shiatsu points today (Spelling of 'shiatsu'?). Hmmm. I might be able to finish that medical journal I was reading the other day as well! Tofu's idea really seems to be worki-* "Ooof! I'm really sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going and." Ranma-chan's flow of words slowed and stopped completely as she saw who she had run into.  
  
"Do I know you?" Dr. Tofu asked, slowly getting to his feet. Ranma- chan rose to her feet as she sadly watched the train leave the station without her. It was her fault, but she was slightly annoyed at the train anyway. "Excuse me, miss, but. Ranma?! Is that you?!"  
  
"Hmmm? Oh, hi Dr. Tofu. I was on my way to the library to do some research."  
  
"Dressed like that? Are you feeling okay?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm fine. I just find it easier to hide in my girl-form."  
  
"With that hair-dye and those glasses, I don't think most people would recognize you unless you ran straight into them. Like you did with me."  
  
"That's true. Nabiki almost didn't recognize me when a literally knocked her over when I was going back to the dojo. Please don't tell anyone about this?"  
  
"I won't tell anyone, Ranma. But you will tell them eventually, won't you?"  
  
"When I've gathered the information needed to stand up to a four-way battle of the self-proclaimed fiancees-well, except Akane. I'll tell them then."  
  
"I see. Good luck on your informational journey then, Ranma."  
  
"Thanks doc."  
  
Tofu smiled at the small normal looking girl in front of him. If he hadn't known of Ranma's curse, he wouldn't have known that it has him. Especially not with him giggling like that. "Ranma. you're giggling. You know that, right?"  
  
Ranma immediately sobered up and nodded. "Well, I didn't notice until you said it. I think it's a side effect of me loosening up in this body."  
  
Tofu nodded slowly, promising to himself that he would do more research on Jusenkyou to make sure Ranma's theory was correct. "Okay then Ranma. Have fun." He smiled as he realized Ranma would probably run into one of his acquaintances in the library. If Ranma-chan actually talked to his friend, Yuki Ishiro, she would probably be taught a /lot/ about pressure points. He hoped the two females could become friends in time. *Since when have I referred to Ranma as a female?* Tofu shook his head as he heard Ranma speak to him. "What?"  
  
"I said, thanks." Ranma-chan went to find something to eat while waiting out the last twenty minutes to her train ride.  
  
Authors Notes: I did this an hour after the first chapter. ^_^ I got reviews within the first hour this was posted! I was /quite/ giddy. Anyway, does anyone know which 'dye/die' is to be used for hair? I forgot. I'm wondering if anyone is OOC yet. I thought they would be much more OOC, but as it turns out, they're much more normal than expected.  
  
Still think I should continue this?  
  
-Ayanami Rei-  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The Evangelion fanatic who hates writing about it and loves writing about Ranma  
  
^_^ - C&C or R&R! Take your pick!  
  
This chapter is longer than expected. 


	3. Chapter 3 Magic in Medicine

Standard Disclaimer (Not that I'm into all this, but.)  
  
Smarter? Chapter 3:  
  
Magic in Medicine  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma-chan wandered through the medical section of the library, looking for books on shiatsu points. As she rounded a corner, she bumped into another browser. "I'm sorry about that," she said, getting up.  
  
"Oh, don't worry about it. Are you looking for anything in particular, miss?"  
  
Ranma-chan's eyes turned to face the speaker, a woman in her apparent early thirties, with shoulder-length black hair and glasses. "I was looking for books on shiatsu points and curses, but I can't find any on these shelves!" She spun around, and felt her hair 'whap' something. She turned around again to see the woman rubbing her face. *I hit her again? I wonder why I seem so clumsy?* "I'm really sorry about hitting you again..."  
  
"Oh, don't worry about it. It's not /that/ unusual." The woman smiled as she continued, "I think I know where all your shiatsu and magic related books went." As she spoke, the woman held out the bag at her side. An assortment of thirty or more different sized books slid out and thumped onto the ground.  
  
"Shhhhh! Quiet!"  
  
Ranma-chan jumped into the air and whirled around, just in time to see the old librarian round the corner with a smile. "She's a lot quieter than a normal person," Ranma-chan noted. "And why do you have all these books on shiatsu and magic?"  
  
"I'm a doctor. I need to keep working on my skills in shiatsu points and I specialize in magical aspects of life. Since that includes curses and blessings, I do my studies on those as well."  
  
*A shiatsu doctor? Knows Dr. Tofu maybe?* "Do you happen to know Dr. Tofu?"  
  
"Why yes! He and I were classmates in medical school! In fact, he was here only an hour ago!"  
  
Ranma-chan blinked for a while after hearing this, then decided to see if Tofu's colleague would be as accepting of a Jusenkyou curse as he was. "Can you come here for a moment? I have question to ask you about curses. Now don't freak out, okay?" Ranma-chan pulled the woman to the bathroom after grabbing a cup of hot and cold water from a water dispenser.  
  
She splashed herself and grew into his male form. Then he immediately splashed himself with cold to save his underwear and clothing. Ranma-chan noted that the woman she had dragged in with her had come out of shock much quicker than most people. *Would she have heard of Jusenkyou before, then?*  
  
"Let me guess. Jusenkyou. Am I right?"  
  
Ranma-chan's eyes flew open in astonishment. Someone had actually heard of Jusenkyou before! Who /was/ this person? "Who /are/ you?"  
  
"Dr. Ishiro Yuki, but I prefer going on a first-name basis. You would be Ranma?"  
  
"Um... yeah. I am. How'd you know?"  
  
"You're the only male-female Jusenkyou cursed victim Dr. Tofu has mentioned to me." Yuki pushed Ranma-chan back into the library, then guided her into a secluded corner. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Ranma, but there's no cure for Jusenkyou. You seem like a fine person from what Tofu's told me, but you spend too much time trying to get a cure."  
  
Ranma-chan nearly jumped out of his chair in indignity. How would /she/ know the despairing feeling Ranma had? Ranma had gone after every cure he could find to have a /normal/ life. Why couldn't he just lead a normal life anyway? Ranma-chan slumped down in her chair, before looking at the doctor. "As I was saying, there's no cure. I've met many people who've spent their lives trying to find cures. I've known people a hundred years old looking for cures for the Jusenkyou curse they'd received when they were twenty. That's eighty years, Ranma. You've only been searching for a few years! There are /that/ many fake cues out there in the world, and to be truthful, there aren't any /true/ cures to the curse. The Jusenkyou curse was made as a punishment system and came with no cure, to insure that the punished people couldn't escape punishment. You have to understand, Ranma, that you can't spend your life looking at all the fakes. Live your life to the fullest! Get used to the curse, or it will kill you. That's the true problem with Jusenkyou. It /will/ kill you from despair if you keep searching for a cure."  
  
Ranma-chan sighed at hearing there were no cures for her curse, then sat straight up when she heard she was supposed to get /used/ to it. *Why should I get used to it? It's a curse! A /CURSE/! I'm not going to turn into a girl because this doctor just tells me to!* "I WON'T BECOME A GIRL!"  
  
"Be quiet in here, or I'll throw you out!" The librarian shuffled away looking for new victims of her silent technique.  
  
Dr. Yuki Ishiro blinked quickly and continuously for the longest time she had in the last ten years. *Tofu wasn't kidding when he said chaos happened around this kid. Where'd all those books back there go? And the librarian... she never could do that before... He's giving off chaos! His female form... Impossible! The last case was two-thousand years ago according to the history books... It's so rare for this to occur!* "Ranma- chan! Stop powering your aura, now!"  
  
"Huh?" Ranma-chan sucked her aura back in, and sat down.  
  
"Ranma, the near impossible has occurred to you. Your female form is a chaos generator. You're literally leaking chaos in both forms because of it! And when your battle aura powers up, it shoots chaos out and feeds it into everything around you! Be careful in your female form. It has much potential as a fighter."  
  
"Feh, it can't be better than my-"  
  
"Male side?" Yuki finished. "You're quite wrong there. You see, the chaos was absorbed into your female side when you climbed out of that Jusenkyou pool. Your female form's potential has greatly surpassed your male form's potential as a fighter in many ways, from all the chaos energy flowing in your female form's veins. I will tell you this now, but you are not to tell anyone else. Understand?"  
  
Ranma-chan nodded, before saying, "I don't think that my female form is all that much stronger..."  
  
"You're right. It isn't. But it has always allowed you to defeat your opponent when you needed to. You don't trust your fighting skills in your female form, that's why your abilities are weaker. Train your female form, and you'll see how much potential it can gain. Don't do simple training like your katas or ki techniques. Use these." Yuki handed Ranma-chan a few books.  
  
"How to use magic? Harnessing Chaos? ... What are these books for?"  
  
Yuki smiled a kind smile. "Your female form has the potential to become a sorceress of chaos. The last time one existed was over two- thousand years ago. You were probably chosen for your already existing field of chaotic energies. Study and learn from those books. When you learn about your female form, get comfortable with it, and your male form will be allowed to expand past the barriers Jusenkyou placed on you. Yes, there were barriers on your skills in your male form as well. I never said it couldn't get stronger as a fighter, just that it had no magic potential. Your two forms balance out in magic and strength, so train them equally. Neither will ever be truly stronger than the other, Jusenkyou made sure of that by placing what's referred to as an 'equal-limit barrier' in the history books. Now then, if you want to see me again, here's my phone number. I'll probably be staying at Tofu's place for the days I'm here. I need to be there anyway, to see why he wants me to treat him because of his emotional reaction to a girl."  
  
Ranma-chan nodded and took the offered card, then turned and walked back to the train station, humming all the way, and giggling occasionally at what she thought Dr. Tofu's reaction to Kasumi might do to Yuki.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
-Tendo Dojo-  
  
Nabiki was hard pressed to keep the fiancees away from her room. "Where mercenary girl hide Ranma?"  
  
"Yes, Nabiki, where did Ranma go? Why are you helping him hide?"  
  
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO-urk!" Ukyou and Shampoo wiped sweat from their heads after hearing Kodachi laugh straight into their ears.  
  
"I told you girls before, I don't know where he is!" Nabiki felt like tearing her hair out, but kept her face calm, cool and collected. Well, except for the rather large twitch that had managed to appear above her eye.  
  
"Well Nabiki, if you don't know where he is, /find/ him! I'll give you 20,000 yen!"  
  
"Ai-yah! Spatula-girl no get to airen first! Shampoo give 40,000 yen!"  
  
Stomping was heard on the stairs as Akane appeared downstairs. She had heard enough. "Yes, Nabiki, why don't you tell us where Ranma is?"  
  
"Nabiki! You hurt your father so! Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!"  
  
"Nabiki! You shou-urg, glowrf, rowf, growf!"  
  
Nabiki was getting very tired of the noise, when her savior presented herself. "Hi everybody! Um, why are you staring at..." Ranma-chan looked down at herself. She blushed, turned toward the stair, and ran straight to her room. The only thing that she said was, "Gotta change, gotta change, gotta change, and you /never/ saw this!" Nabiki turned back to the fiancees as thumps were heard.  
  
"I guess you all don't need the information anymore, then?" Nabiki went back into her room, with a content smirk on her face.  
  
"Oh my." Kasumi said, looking at the bodies of the fiancees and fathers who were out cold on the ground.  
  
"They all decided to take a nap! How nice!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
Yes, I know that the last line was not needed, and may have been an exaggeration of Kasumi's innocent nature, but I needed a little laugh of my own, and I stuck it in. I felt like this was enough for one day. I don't know whether or not I'm going to be updating this as much as usual after this, as I'm in a pit of trouble from school.  
  
How's the story, anyway? Still like it? Still think it should go on? Oh, and continue C&C/R&R! Thanks! (Btw: This chapter's outline was written with the idea of a chapter equal in size to chapter two. I went overboard. Hehehe.)  
  
-Ayanami Rei 


	4. Chapter 4 Interlude

Smarter?

Chapter: Interlude

**Interlude: The rise and fall of the ages**

The world will continue, a never-ending cycle of advance and decline. As man passes through the 'Age of Technology', all about true magical forms has been forgotten and stored away.

As the world prepares for a coming fight… one who will involve the fate of nations, a new warrior is born from the chaos. One who will bring magic back into the lives of people around the world.

The 'Age of Technology' is starting its decline, and magic is reappearing in its truest forms. Soon, the advances in technology will be no more, a fate that Terra wished to avoid. As Terra once said, 'The future is an endless stream of possibilities that we more powerful beings can see. As I am the guardian of Earth, I can understand how to change the future for the better. However, some of the positions I find myself in are not able to be changed, and there are many higher-powered beings than I. I hope this day will never come to pass, and that I will never have to force the decline of an age of prosperity. But this day will come as surely as the sun will rise, and a warrior must be trained every age for this upcoming event.'

As the technological age isn't allowed to reach its fullest potential and outside help is waging wars of its own, the only hope left for the future of mankind is the chosen warrior, who, at the present moment, is still oblivious to the position he has been granted.

As the days continue to pass, the higher beings start to fret, for if the menace defeats mankind, Terra shall die, and the evil will absorb her power completely. All the higher beings, from Tsunami to the goddesses in Asgard, wait to see what their best warrior on Earth can do to stop this soon-to-be threat.

As the technological age begins its rapid decline into the history books, the 'Age of Chaos' shall begin. And begin in chaos is what it will do, as it has already begun its ascent.

And as so, Ranma Saotome, both the male and female warriors of the Earth, shall start the 'Age of Chaos', and will defend the Earth to his dying breath.

Thus, starts the final legacy of Ranma Saotome, avatar of Earth.

___________________________________________________________________

Footnotes:

Well, here's the next chapter. Unfortunately, the web-site will /not/ be going up (4-3-2003). My family trashed my computer (I lost EVERYTHING! Geez…) and I had to retype this chapter. I'm sorry for the delay, and I hope that it won't happen too often anymore.

I'm still here, and I'll keep taking the reviews into mind. I think I'm going to start posting replies to question reviews here in the footnotes in my next chapter.

Until then, this is Ayanami Rei, on 'Smarter?', bidding you farewell.


	5. Book 2: Alpha: Chapter 1 The First Test

Special Author's Note: As I'm putting my chapters into html, the thoughts are now within single-quotes, and the dialogue is in double-quotes. Please contact me if anything goes wrong with the single/double-quote thing. Thanks!

____________________________________________________

Standard Disclaimer (Not that I'm into all this, but…)

****

Smarter? Part 2: Chapter 1:

The First Test

~~~~~~~~~~

Ranma had been training in secret for a few days, and had perfected a few basic level chaos spells. Nabiki hadn't been tracking him, much to his delight, and none of the Nerima Wrecking Crew even fathomed that he would be hiding in a library.

As he had perfected his spells, he had found ways to slowly incorporate the spells into his beginner katas. His highest level spell, a level 3 special technique (out of 25 levels—and this was _only_ the intermediate book) was strong enough to freeze half to dojo in about 5 seconds. Condensed, this spell could freeze any thing, inside and out, within a 4 foot radius instantaneously. The spell could be shrunk and weakened enough to only freeze the outside of something the size of a finger. Ranma couldn't imagine the damage a level 50 (Highest level advanced spell) could do to a town.* '_It's time. I've done enough training. I need an opponent. Hmm...'_. Ranma walked out of the Tendo Dojo and smirked as he walked passed the Nekohanten. His smirk grew as he walked passed Furinkan and Ucchan's.

Ranma looked around carefully as he stepped into an abandoned parking lot (there sure are a lot of these in Nerima nowaday! ^_^), before saying, "I wonder if I should take Shampoo on a date?"

_'Nabiki ought to have gotten that on tape... I wonder who she'll get here? I'd give it 14 seconds to the arrival time...'_. Ranma made a show of tapping his foot against the ground, unknowingly cracking the concrete with the extreme force of his taps.

"Aiyaa! Airen take Shampoo on date now, yes?"

"Saotome, you fiend! I'll never let you have my Shampoo!"

"Saotome, you scoundrel! You dare think a commoner's beauty is better than my beauteous Akane? Have at thee-URK!"

"Shampoo no beautiful? You too, too stupid. And Shampoo no commoner!"

"I shall date thee!"

"I've learned new things Saotome, you'll never have my Shampoo!"

"You're not the only one who's been studying, Mousse." Ranma smirked, as he stepped back, and flipped a bucket of cold water onto himself.

"Fighting as a female now, Saotome? Getting ready to give up your masculinity?"

"No, just training." Ranma-chan smiled, as she slid back to dodge the multitude of chains. "I need a dummy for my target practice." Ranma-chan seemed to wink out of existence and appear behind Mousse.

Suddenly, about twenty see through blurs appeared around Mousse, who blinked a few times as he felt his feet freeze to the ground, as his joints lock up in ice. He quickly shook off the ice, and said, "Surely you don't think that will hold me down? You're getting slow, Saotome."

"I don't think so-"

"DIE RANMA!"

Ryouga suddenly jumped onto the scene, late, but present. He made his way to Ranma and smiled at Mousse. "He can't beat both of us at our best, now can he?"

"Probably not. Let's not give him the chance."

"Guys? I was just trying to train..." Ranma-chan gulped, before she felt herself get pummeled into the ground by hundreds of objects. Suddenly, she felt her control slip, and her chaos energies flowed through her veins, unchecked.

"We did it! Yes! Victory is ours!" Mousse and Ryouga cheered a little longer, before Mousse turned to look at the speck that was Shampoo chasing Kuno to give out the required punishment for calling an Amazon warrior a lowly being. He and Ryouga spun around as a low-growl sounded from behind them.

"You think you won? Heh... I doubt it. You _can't_ defeat me by normal means. Fools," Ranma-chan growled out. She crouched down, nearly lying flat on the ground, before winking out of existence.

"Did she run away?" Ryouga wondered, looking around. Suddenly, Mousse collapsed, surrounded by ice, five-feet thick everywhere but his head..

"Think again..." Ranma-chan's voice whispered from nowhere and everywhere at once.

"Ranma? Are you feeling alright? You aren't acting normal- URP!" Ryouga felt himself get lifted off the ground by his neck, but he could tell that there was nothing there but air. He stared as Ranma-chan faded into existence in front of him. "That wasn't the Umi-Sen-Ken, was it? I can usually detect a void when you..." Ryouga trailed off as Ranma-chan raised her head. Her eyes glowed a solid gold, no pupils or irises were visible.

He let out an audible gulp, as Ranma-chan licked her lips and leapt forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, no! I didn't think this would happen so soon! He was a martial artist, too... what type of stress can he be going through? I have to get there before it's too late..." Yuki whispered, as her eyes widened.

Dr. Tofu looked on, concerned.

-Yay! New Chapter!-

-Wheee! Cliffhanger! Sorta! Heheheheh.-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* I hope you don't mind, but a level fifty special spell could do the damage of 15 Dragon Slaves. I hope you've watched the SLAYERS anime before. Otherwise, just think of about 10 New York Cities being decimated in one blast.

****

Author's Notes:

I'm changing my chapter uploads to html files. It's easier for me to type these chapters without worrying about loss of my formatting. Sorry if this causes loading inconvenience (though I doubt it will) and forgive me if there are any problems with the file.

Please continue to C&C or R&R, and thanks for your current reviews. Any questions, post them in the review section! Oh, and during Spring Break, I'll probably write a few more chapters. They're probably not going to be posted until Spring Break ends, though. I got my internet service ended, and I upload my chapters at school.

Sorry for any inconveniences, and I apologize for the upcoming wait. I'm starting my web-site over again, w/ a comic strip too. My fanfiction will be here, on FF.Net, but my comic strip will be on my web-page.

E-mail me any complaints, questions, comments, or suggestions. Or put them in the review section. R&R or C&C! Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the fic!

****

Spelling difficulties:

Furinkan or Furinken? Which one is the right spelling? (The school.)

Ucchan's or Uchan's? (The restaurant name.) 

-Ayanami Rei


	6. Book 2: Alpha: Chapter 2 Control

**__**

Special Author's Note: 'Smarter?' Book 1 is titled '**Smarter**', Book 2 is titled '**Alpha**'. Book 3 is titled '**The Calm**', and Book 4 is titled '**Omega**'. Sorry for any confusion!

_____________________________

Standard Disclaimer (Not that I'm into all this, but…)

****

Smarter? Part 2:

Alpha: Chapter 2:

Control

~~~~~~~~~~

Ryouga closed his eyes as Ranma-chan sped towards him.

"Stop. You will not pass through the barrier, Chaos." Ryouga opened his eyes and saw a young man standing in front of him with a hand facing toward Ranma. A shimmering shield had been erected in front of them, and Ranma was pacing on the other side.

"Says who? I can break this with ease." Ranma-chan hissed, a treacherous grin spreading across her face.

"You may be able to, but I am Reijo Ishiro, mage of Order, and brother to Yuki Ishiro. I'm sure you wouldn't hurt my sibling, even indirectly, so give up."

"A smart one, eh? Well, it seems you've won this round, Order Mage, be wary of the oncoming darkness. Explain it to my mortal form." Ranma-chan smiled, before flopping into a sitting position on the ground, and rubbing her head. She let out a moan, and collapsed to her side, sleeping.

"Terra chose Chaos as her avatar? This will complicate some matters..."

"Brother! What are you doing here? Is Ranma all right?"

"He is fine, but there's something you should know. The reason he is able to channel chaos magic is...well... he is the incarnation of Chaos. Chaos is dying, and has chosen him as her successor. You didn't feel a crazed avatar, you felt Chaos breaking the barrier between worlds and dimensions."

"This could complicate things to no end..."

"Yes, it could. We have to explain everything to Ranma when he wakes up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

__

'This is could be profitable,' Nabiki thought, listening through headphones in her room. _'I can sell this to Cologne and Happosai, and Kuno would be thrilled to know that his pig-tailed goddess was really otherworldly in ways.'_ Nabiki quickly picked up the phone... and found the wires cut and being held in Dr. Tofu's hands.

"Tell me, Nabiki, would you really want Chaos herself to be mad at you? She _could_ make your life more chaotic than Ranma's after all. I don't think it would be fun." Tofu gave Nabiki a reproachful look, before giving her the wires, and turning to leave the house. Unfortunately, he was caught up in an unexpected activity, "K-K-Kasumi! Fancy meeting you here!" The said activity would be known as the breaking of the Tendo home.

Nabiki calculated the damage totals, and fainted on the spot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranma-chan rubbed her head, groaning in pain. The world slowly spun around and focused in front of her eyes.

"He's awake, sister."

Ranma-chan looked up and saw the young man who had stopped her rampage. She managed to whisper out, "Thanks for stopping me..." before collapsing onto her back as she saw swirls fly around her head.

"Oh, geez. There has to be a leaky Order mage around here," Yuki muttered. She looked around and spotted the 'leaky Order mage'. A lone figure was perched at the edge of the parking lot, balancing on a cane. 

"Cologne..." Yuki stared as her brother seemed to go crazy after muttering the name. "You foolish amateur! You _still_ can't get the Order magic under control!? Even this four-week student has been able to control the Chaos energies! Geez! You're killing him with your leaking order!"

"You think son-in-law is able to die from a little leaky Order, idiot? I doubt it."

"You're right, Ranma won't die from the Order," Reijo sneered, sarcastically, "after all, the fact that he is Chaos incarnate won't _let_ him die!" He glared at Cologne to finish his statement.

"You think son-in-law is Chaos herself? Don't delude yourself with male arrogance. She would never choose a gender-bender like him to hold _her_self." Cologne smiled triumphantly as she hobbled closer to Ranma.

"No, you may be right." Ranma-chan's voice floated out from her prone form. "Chaos wouldn't choose me because I'm a so-called 'gender-bender' ("which by the way, makes me not want to marry Shampoo even more." Cologne grimaced here) but she _would_ choose me for the chaos in my life. And also, I have Jusenkyou's balancing seal thing. It makes my male and female forms no stronger than each other. You know of this, right Cologne, matriarch of the Amazons?" Ranma-chan had sat up partway through her speech, and was now glaring daggers at the wrinkled figure on the cane.

"!" was all Cologne could think of in reply. She could see Ranma's skin fluctuating from male to female because of the clashing energies, and she knew that if the insides were to change to the wrong size... that Ranma would probably die... or give birth to child that he fathered and mothered.

Ranma-chan wondered why Cologne had left laughing her head off. She shivered as she thought of the disturbing sound Cologne made in order to laugh. A little while ago, she wouldn't have believed that Cologne could make a laugh almost as good as Kodachi's, but now she believed.

"Okay, Ranma. We need a new name for your female form. How about using your customary 'Ranko'?" Yuki smiled at Ranma-chan.

"Okay, Yuki, but why?"

"Our superiors will try to kill us under the beliefs that we haven't 'cleansed' someone of a 'Chaos cursed life'."

"Kuno related?"

"Tatewaki's great-grandfather."

"Makes sense."

P-chan shivered on the ground, sorry for the poor trainees that were under Great-Grandfather Kuno's care. Then he wondered when he had turned into a pig...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Author's Notes:

Wheeeee! I'm soooooooo bored! I typed up two things today! I also got my parents pissed! I raised my grades and they got pissed! ... That makes no sense... oh well. Anyway, I posted a short crossover fic for Ranma/Spirited Away. I was bored. It's sort of an AU story. Go read it if you want.

2 chapters in one week! Yay! I'm uploading them separately though, because I'm too lazy to find my floppy disk again. Have fun, and enjoy the story!

E-mail me any complaints, questions, comments, or suggestions. Or put them in the review section. R&R or C&C! Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the fic!

****

Spelling difficulties:

(None)

-Ayanami Rei


	7. Book 2: Alpha: Chapter 3 Remembrance

Hey, everybody! I'm back after almost half-a-year of rest time! That's right! It is I, the one and only Ayanami Rei who said a story was going to be continued, but never posted the next chapters! Well… that's 'cause I didn't write the next chapters until now, and it's already 10-02-2003, which is definitely about half-a-year since I said I was continuing.

Anyway, sorry about not continuing, but I just switched schools, I've got a lot of homework, I've got unbelievable amounts of art to finish (I started them for fun, but now I've been roped into finishing them…), a website to finish (I actually started it! Officially going to be called KuroNeko's Website), and band and orchestra and piano and mock trials and other stuffs. So don't expect me to upload as often, but you can hope.

I'll try my best to upload more, but don't be too optimistic.

_____________________________

Standard Disclaimer (Not that I'm into all this, but…)

****

Smarter? Part 2:

Alpha: Chapter 3:

Remembrance

~~~~~~~~~~

Ranma smiled as she walked into Yuki's make-do office. "I see you still haven't fixed it, Yuki!"

Yuki looked around the apartment that doubled as her office before replying, "Fixed what?"

"Your apartment!"

"Huhn? There's nothing wrong with it… well, at the least, I like the way it looks!"

"Still like it, eh? I really don't understand how you can stand to live in a place like this," Ranma complained as she sat on a box.

"Well, fine. I suppose I should actually unpack all my stuff from the boxes, okay? Now, can you get off my box of cup-noodles?" Yuki glared at Ranma, before Ranma 'eeped' and moved off the box.

"I don't get it, Yuki. I thought you said you hated cup-noodles. In fact, you didn't only say you hated them, you specifically said you would 'never eat a friggin' instant food again'."

"Erm…" Yuki shivered as she remembered what Ranma was referring to…

*************************

"Hey! Yuki! I think I learned how to make the plant grow faster!" Ranma rushed over to where Yuki was trying to make her hot water dispenser work.

"Really, now. You think you learned a new spell…Well then, why don't you demonstrate on my dying flower over there?" Yuki smiled as she saw Ranma jump in joy as she spun to try to make the flower grow.

"C'mon…By the power I am given, GROWTH!"

"…"

"…"

"…Ranma, nothing happened…"

"Yeah… Weird…" Ranma turned to talk to Yuki, and ended up screaming and rushing into a corner. The thing that had appeared was not_ something Ranma felt like dealing with at the time, and running was her best choice._

Yuki turned to look at where her cup noodles had been. In its place, a giant monster had appeared, and it was made solidly out of noodles. It licked its giant mouth (with a noodle tongue, of course) and reached down for Yuki. As it threw Yuki into its mouth, Ranma heard her yell, "RAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNMMMMAAAAAAA!!!!! I'm gonna kill you for this!!!!!"

Ranma shivered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later the monster was no more. Yuki was standing in the middle of a giant pile of cup noodles, and she didn't look good. Then again, the monster was gone due to having its insides blown out by one of Yuki's spells… while she was in its stomach. Being covered in digestive noodles (dunno how that would work) wasn't what Yuki had wanted when she had first tried to heat up her dinner.

"Yuki? You're not really gonna kill me… are you?" Ranma peeked out from behind a corner.

"Nah… maybe lock you into a cat form for a couple days or something." Yuki grinned sinisterly.

"Eeeeep! Anything but a cat!!!!"

"Alright, alright. I won't punish you. But make sure you get the spell right next time, okay?"

"thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou- Oh! Um… Okay!" Ranma sighed in relief and continued muttering 'thankyou' to the sky as Yuki sweatdropped.

"Students these days, always thinking I'm going to hurt them somehow…" Yuki turned to order take-out. "Ugh, I swear…I will never eat another friggin' cup noodle as long as I live… Stupid instant things… always no good."

********************************

"Yeah… um…" Yuki looked at her cup noodle, then trashed it as she rushed to the bathroom.

"Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that…" Ranma mused, when she heard retching noises coming from the bathroom.

'Stomachs… Now all I can think of are stomachs… stupid, stupid…' Yuki thought to herself, as she left the bathroom. Glancing at the clock, Yuki turned to Ranma and said, "Perhaps you had better be going home, it's getting late."

"Your right, Yuki, well, c'ya soon!"

"Hold up Ranma… You need to know something I have planned for you…"

Ranma didn't like the way Yuki was smiling.


	8. Book 2: Alpha: Chapter 4 Bloodless Shado...

****

Author's Note: Woo-hoo! Another chapter! Enjoy! Read n' Review!

__

Note that I've officially moved the Author's notes to the top of the chapters!

_____________________________

Standard Disclaimer (Not that I'm into all this, but…)

****

Smarter? Part 2:

Alpha: Chapter 4:

Bloodless Shadows

~~~~~~~~~~

Ranma sighed as she sat back down in Yuki's office. "Yuki, are you sure you're not joking about inviting the great-grandaddy-Kuno to look at me?"

"I'm sorry, Ranma, but as I said before, he is our superior, and he knows more about magic than we do. And anyhow, you may find him more acceptable than the principal—I've heard that 'great-grandaddy-Kuno' highly dislikes his grandson and his great grandson."

Ranma stuck her nose in the air, before letting out a few giggles. "All right, Yuki, I'll give him a chance," Ranma said, then her countenance darkened as she continued, "but if I find him doing anything even _remotely_ perverted, well, he will learn what it means to be a Kuno."

"Ranma? He already is a Kuno…"

"Hmm? Oh! It's a term that Furinkan students came up with to encompass the meaning of 'perverted, stupid, thick-skulled, unable to feel pain, egotistic, snobby, well-to-do financially, and ignorant.'"

Yuki blinked for a while, then burst out laughing. "Don't worry, Ranma, I know that Jack won't be like that in any way."

"Jack???"

"Um… 'great-grandaddy-Kuno' is named Jack Kuno…"

"_Jack!?!?_"

"Yes… He, like his grandson, spent a long time in America, though he didn't stay in Hawaii the whole time. Because he was still quite egotistic as a teenager, he didn't give his name to the American police, and… well… they renamed him to Jack."

Ranma snickered as she thought of how it could have happened. "Thanks, Yuki. I'm going home now." Yuki nodded, as Ranma turned and exited the office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lievebe ni eth erswond fo het sglas talpor…"

"Sye, eatecr het sglas talpor, ti si eth lyon yaw ot ringb outab het omdo…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranma blinked. Had she just heard chanting coming from the grocery store? She would understand if it came from Furinkan (Gosunkugi practiced there pretty often), but the grocery store was an off-limits area to the usual chaos that happened around Nerima, namely because if anything happened, Kasumi wouldn't be able to cook.

Therefore, after reasoning that the grocery store was in possible danger, Ranma roof-hopped to the parking lot beside the grocery store. As soon as she arrived, she noticed two shadowy figures speaking to each other.

"Are you sure that it'll be undetectable?"

"Yes, it will turn to glass. No one will notice."

"No one will notice it… because it's glass?"

"That's right……!! Someone's here!"

The two figures suddenly melted into the shadows and disappeared from Ranma's view and senses. Curious, Ranma decided to follow them. She managed about a step before she heard a nearby bell tower ringing for 12 o' clock. She swore to herself mentally, and turned to run home, completely forgetting about what she had just witnessed.

__________________________________

****

Special Notes:

Go ahead and flame me if you want. I made a really short chapter here.

STATUS ON NEXT CHAPTER:

Next chapter is Book 3: The Calm: Chapter 1- Battles and Bloody Prophecies

The next chapter will introduce some other anime series into this story, but be assured (or not, if you wanted a crossover) that this story is not outlined as a major crossover. In fact, I'm only planning on briefly mentioning some characters. Only AMG will actually be written about in the next few chapters. The rest is mentioned only in the TV newscast.

Series to be mentioned:

-------------------------

Ah! Megami-sama! (This will be a 1-3 chapter mini-crossover)

Tenchi Muyo!

Sailor Moon (Ugh, I _hate_ that name)

-------------------------

Teaser from AMG section (subject to further revisions):

__

Everyone in the Tendo household had focused on the TV. Nabiki turned the volume up as the news came on. "In today's news: More demon sightings all over Japan. Sailor Senshi have been sighted… Masaki Shrine residents have taken up arms…"

…

"In the area surrounding Nekomi Tech, a giant shield of some sort seems to have been erected, and none of the demons have successfully passed through it as of yet. An army of some sort seems to be fighting the demons on the outside of the shield, and witnesses seem to believe the army is composed of more demons…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…

"Mara, how many people will we have to mind-wipe after we finish this? Almost all of Japan already knows about us, and the word will probably go global soon."

Mara sighed, before turning to look at Urd. "I don't know, Urd. But our hand has been forced. We can't stand by idly while our own men get taken over by some other power. Half of Hell's army has been taken. We've stopped the taking, but we need to eliminate those that have been taken…"

An energy beam from Banpei sliced a bit of Mara's hair off, before impacting with an attacking demon and instantly killing it. "A renegade demon inside the shield?! Preposterous! Wait… this is one of mine! …"

---------------------

That's the teaser! (For those of you who are curious, the '…' are actually removed sections of text.)

The next chapter will be _much _longer. It is the combined outlines of about 5 chapters or more, so be patient!


	9. Sorry 'bout this

This is not a new chapter to the story. Instead, this is my final, or at least second-to-last, **_Author's Note_** for this particular literary work.

What does that mean?

It means, and it pains me to say this, that this story has been officially abandoned. No, I hadn't died and stopped working on it, I just lost the outline and rough drafts due to a computer virus, and I hadn't found the spirit to continue the story.

Not only had I lost all the preliminary pieces of the story, but I'd gone back and checked the length of each chapter and found them all lacking. My chapters were all a couple thousand words too short, as far as I was concerned.

Though this story may be up for re-write some unforseen time in the distant future, for the time being it will be labled as an _abandoned_ work.

Should anyone like the continue this story on their own, send me an e-mail, and I'll let you know whether you can continue it. Only one person is going to be allowed to continue the story, so once I agree to someone continuing it, I'm ignoring all further e-mails.

I'll most likely name the new author in another update as my ending notes for the story.

Sorry, and good luck finding another story,

-Ayanami Rei

(P.S. I've got a new story on the way, and each chapter will be longer. It won't be written in the same train of thought as this story, but if you feel like it, check it out.)


	10. Final Notes

A while has passed since I last visisted this story and, looking back, I can sincerely say that my writing has improved by leaps and bounds since then.

However, though my writing has improved since I was last active here, I have decided to leave the fanfiction scene altogether, opting to concentrate on school and the likes.

_**As of February, 2006, all stories on this account are discontinued.**_

**Materia Blade** has my permission to continue any one of my stories, should he feel any reason to. I'm not sure he'll take me up on that offer, considering that he has some amazingly large-scale stories in the works at the moment (all of which I'm enjoying reading, might I add).

Thank you, everyone, for having followed my rather badly written stories up 'till now. I appreciated all the supportive comments, and I even appreciated many of the "flames," as they served to point out holes and weak points in my knowledge of the Ranma universe.

On an different, more optimistic note, I may return to writing fanfiction at some point in the near future, depending on my grades and the amount of free time I have. If I do return, it will be with a new screenname and I will most likely be writing divergences and/or AU stories, as I've discovered that what knowledge I had of the Ranma universe prior to my hiatus from writing has become muddled as a result of having read too many fanfictions.

Until then,

Ayanami


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